The Ernest Cook Trust is a large educational charity in England. It was founded in 1952 by the philanthropist Ernest Cook, the grandson of Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England founded the travel agency that is now Thomas Cook Group.- Early days :...

. Each year the Trustees distribute more than £1.25m in educational grants to benefit children and young people.

Rooted in the conservation and management of the countryside, the Trust also actively encourages children and young people to learn from the land through hands-on educational opportunities on its estates and by offering grants.

The Trust currently owns and manages 22000 acres (89 km²) of landed estates across five counties in southern England: it upholds the highest standards of estate management throughout its land, farms and buildings, remaining true to Ernest Cook's vision.

The trust owns 21500 acres (87 km²) of land and is responsible for the following estates:

• The Fairford Park Estate
  Fairford Park
  Fairford Park is a estate in the southern Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England, close to the small town of Fairford. Purchased by Ernest Cook from the Baker family in 1945, the former stables and coach house of Fairford Park House are used as the headquarters of the Ernest Cook Trust, which now...
  
  
• The Barnsley Village Estate
  Barnsley, Gloucestershire
  Barnsley is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, north-east of Cirencester. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 162.-History:...
  
  
• The Little Dalby Estate
  Little Dalby
  Little Dalby is a small village near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.The Little Dalby Estate is the Ernest Cook Trust's largest and, in many ways, its most complete estate. Extending to , the estate was purchased in two parts by Ernest Cook, the northern half from the Burns Harttop family in 1938...
  
  
• The Hartwell Estate
  Hartwell
  Hartwell is a village in central Buckinghamshire, England. It is to the south of Aylesbury, by the village of Stone.The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means "spring frequented by deer". In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Herdeuuelle and Herdewelle.The ruined Hartwell...
  
  
• The Boarstall Estate
  Boarstall
  Boarstall is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, about west of Aylesbury. The parish is on the county boundary with Oxfordshire and the village is about southeast of the Oxfordshire market town of Bicester.-History:...
  
  
• The Slimbridge Estate
  Slimbridge
  Slimbridge is a village near Dursley in Gloucestershire, England.It is best known as the home of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's Slimbridge Reserve which was started by Sir Peter Scott. The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal runs through the village, and under Patch Bridge which must be crossed to ...
  
  
• The Trent Estate
  Trent, Dorset
  Trent is a village in north west Dorset, England, situated in the Yeo valley four miles north west of Sherborne and four miles north east of Yeovil. It was formerly in Somerset...
  
  
• The Filkins Estate
  Filkins
  Filkins is a village in the civil parish of Filkins and Broughton Poggs, about southwest of Carterton in Oxfordshire.-History:The Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street built the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter in 1855-1857...
  
  
• The Hatherop Estate

The Trust was also instrumental in the development of the Fairford Leys

Fairford Leys

Fairford Leys is a new high density housing estate of 1,900 homes west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It has its own village centre with a number of traditionally fronted shops, a small supermarket, two restaurants, a nursery, an ecumenical church and a community centre. It also has a...

 housing estate on land it owned in Aylesbury

Aylesbury

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

.

Further reading

• Collins, E. J. T. and Giles, A. K. (1989). Innovation and Conservation: Ernest Edward Cook and his Country Estates. University of Reading. ISBN 9780704907089.